When Babe Ruth was sold by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees at the beginning of the Roaring Twenties, the stage was set for one of baseball’s greatest dynasties. With Ruth on board, and under manager Miller Huggins, the Yankees became America’s most popular team, and the most dominant team in the American League. They won three consecutive pennants (1921–1923) and a World Series (1923).
In 1924, the Yankees’ quest for a fourth consecutive pennant fell short when they finished two games behind the first place Washington Senators. Expected to bounce back and win the 1925 championship, the Bronx Bombers instead crumbled to the bottom. Ruth’s love for the nightlife, his undisciplined nature and disrespect for his manager had finally caught up to him, and it jeopardized his future in baseball.
This book tells the story of Babe Ruth, Miller Huggins and the Yankees’ rise to glory, their collapse in 1925 and their climb back to the top.

Gary A. Sarnoff has written for Nats News, Minor League News, and for the Biography Project of the Society for American Baseball Research. He also writes for the Silver Spring–Takoma Thunderbolts of the Cal Ripken Sr. League and lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Gary A. Sarnoff
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 264
Bibliographic Info: 27 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4966-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1718-3
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments  ix

Introduction  1

1. Babe Ruth to the Yankees—1920  5

2. Ruppert and Huston  13

3. Fifty-Nine Home Runs and Five Suspensions—1921 and 1922  21

4. Miller Huggins  34

5. World Champions—1923  45

6. The Bellyache Heard Around the World—1925  53

7. Crash!—1925  64

8. Suspension—1925  77

9. Comeback Season—1926  85

10. Yankee Pride—1926  100

11. The 1926 World Series  107

12. Babe Ruth, the Legend—1927  121

13. Lindy! Lindy! Lindy!—1927  133

14. Baseball’s Greatest Team—1927  143

15. Break Up the Yankees—1928  155

16. Collapse—1928  169

17. Completing the Dynasty—1928  180

18. Tragedy—1929  194

19. Remarried—1929  202

20. The End of the Road—1929  213

21. Legacy  220

Chapter Notes  227

Bibliography  247

Index  249